2.081FOLDER NO. ALASKA LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL Legislative Reference Library Juneau, Alaska CONSTITUTIONAL STUDIES PREPARED ON BEHALF OF THE ALASKA STATEHOOD COMMITTEE FOR THE ALASKA CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION £:.‘ :>>*. ....-'. A-* J; . t,| . , ' ■ J ■: jr; ' < p V sLT'j: PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION SERVICE -V CONSTITUTIONAL STUDIES Prepared on behalf of the ALASKA STATEHOOD COMMITTEE for the ALASKA CONSTITUTIONAL CONVENTION Convened November 8 , 1955 PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION SERVICE Volume 2 of 3 TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME 1 I. The State Constitution within the American Political System II. Civil Rights and Liberties III. The Alaskan Constitution, and the State Patrimony IV. Suffrage and Elections VOLUME 2 V. The Legislative Department VI. The Executive Department VII. The Judicial Department VOLUME 3 VIII. The Constitution and Local Government IX. State Finance X. Legislative Structure and Apportionment XI. Constitutional Amendment and Revision XII. Initiative, Referendum, and Recall V THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT A staff paper prepared by Public Administration Service for the Delegates to the Alaska Constitutional Convention November, 1955 TABLE OF CONTENTS The Legislative Department 1 State Legislative Powers 2 Major Areas of State Activity and Power 3 Legislative Powers Relating to the Executive and Judiciary 4 Limitations Imposed on Legislative Action 5 Limitations against Special and Local Legislation 6 Qualifications, Election, and Tenure of Legislators 10 Qualifications 11 Age Requirements 11 Citizenship and Residence Requirements 12 Election and Terms of Members 12 Judging Qualifications and FillingVacancies 14 Compensation of Legislators 16 Privileges and Immunities 17 Dual Office Holding 19 Legislative Organization and Procedure 20 Sessions 20 Officers and Rules 24 Committees 24 Quorum 26 Style Limitations 27 Procedural Limitations 2S Legislative Services 32 Lobbying 36 General Comments 37 THE LEGISLATIVE DEPARTMENT State Government in the United States is uniquely an American product. Although the states represent wide variations in size, condition and other factors, they share in common a status which might be called "constitutional middlemen." In the formation of our Federal Union the states consented to strip themselves of certain powers which were delegated to the national government. The remaining powers, variously termed reserved or residual powers, were retained by the individual states. But within the states, the ultimate repositories of political power are the people. This constitutional belief of popular sovereignty when coupled with its companion doctrine of limited government, or the belief that certain powers and activities should be denied to government and government officials, led to the formulation of state constitutions which are essentially limitations on power. Indeed, a student of comparative government reading American state constitutions for the first time would find little in their legislative articles about the specific powers of state government in contrast to the multiplicity of limitations, pro­ hibitions, and elaborate prescriptions governing conduct, pro­ cedures, and other details. State Legislative Powers As mentioned above, the lawmaking powers of state legis­ latures are restricted by certain powers given to the federal government. Article I of the Federal Constitution assigns cer­ tain functions to the federal government and definitely pro­ hibits them to the states. Among the acts prohibited are the making of treaties, the granting of letters of marque and repri­ sal and the passing of bills of attainder, the coining of money, the passing of ex post facto laws, the making of anything but gold and silver legal tender for the payment of debts, the pass­ ing of laws impairing the obligation of contract, the granting of titles of nobility, the levying of tonnage or export duties, and finally, engaging in war or keeping troops or ships of war in time of peace. Even when dealing with a subject which comes within the scope of their constitutional authority, the state legislatures are restricted in the exercise of their power by important provisions of Amendment XIV; namely, those clauses which guarantee due process of law, equal protection of the laws, and the privileges and immunities of citizens. Of course the legislature is also subject to 3uch inter­ pretations of the Federal Constitution and the constitution of the state as the courts may choose to give them. In addition to the normal hazards of judicial review, some state legislatures are confronted with the special doctrine of implied limitations which has been designed by the courts to limit legislative powers by narrow interpretations of delegated powers. Theoretically, the legislature should be entitled to exercise those powers not denied to it by either the Federal or the state constitution; but when the expressed constitutional restrictions are reinforced by this narrow doctrine of interpretation, the lav/making body is in a straitjacket.1 Major Areas of State Activity and Power Within the framework of the federal system and limitations imposed by state constitutions, the states undertake a wide var­ iety of services— each of which from time to time, requires legislative deliberation and action. In most state constitutions a brief section stipulating that the legislative authority of the state is vested in the legislature has been sufficient to endow it with power to act in a wide variety of fields. These may be generally classified as follows; 1. Educations public school systems, institutions of special training and higher learning, and library services. 2. Highways, highway safety, and aviation. 1 In Rathbone v. Wirth, 45 N. W. 15, 23 (1896) the Court of Appeals of New York gave a classic statement of the objection­ able doctrine: "When the validity of legislation is brought in question, it is not necessary to show that it falls appropriately within some express written prohibition contained in the con­ stitution. The implied restraints of the constitution upon legislative power may be as effectual for its condemnation as the written words, and such restraints may be either in the language employed or in the evident purpose which was in view and the circumstances and historical events which led to the enactment of the particular provisions as a part of the organic law." 3 . Health and welfare programs. 4. Defense and public protection, including civil defense and state fire protection. 5. Corrections. including penal institutions and correctional systems. 6. Planning and development, including economic devel­ opment, housing and urban redevelopment. 7. Natural Resources, including conservation, admin­ istration and research services. 8. Labor and industrial relations, including employ­ ment security administration. 9. Regulatory activities, including occupational licensing, utility and insurance regulation, and al­ coholic beverage control. 10. Intergovernmental Relations, including inter­ state relations, state-federal relations, and local government structure and relations. In addition to these fields of activity, the state legisla­ ture exercises the taxing power and important controls over the expenditure of state funds. It also plays an important role in the field of suffrage and elections. Legislative Powers Relating to the Executive and Judiciary The legislature's powers end relationships with the execu­ tive and judicial branches are subject to some variations from state to state, yet these entail additional legislative tasks. On the judicial side, for example, the legislature must constant­ ly make judgments with regard to the constitutionality of measures before it in the light of current judicial interpretations. Im­ portant influences can be exercised over the executive or judiciary through such appointive or appointment-reviewing powers and impeachment authority as are assigned to the state legislature by the constitution. Probably the most significant legislative authority, particularly affecting the executive branch, is the power of the legislature through its committees to investigate any subject, department, o r agency as may be necessary for the proper performance of its duties in order to determine compliance with either constitutional or statutory requirements. Limitations Imposed on Legislative Action Because of the low level of public esteem to which state legislatures fell in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, legislative articles of state constitutions are predominantly limitations, restrictions and prohibitions which are imposed on that branch. Indeed, this trend has been carried as far as the development of devices whereby the people reserve the power 'go initiate as well as to review legislation thereby further delimiting or dividing legislative authority. The problem of what, restrictions on the exercise of legis­ lative authority should be embodied in the state constitution raises an important question about the relation oflthe constitu­ tion to progress. If, on the one hand, the restrictions are highly specific and well defined, there is always the danger that they may rapidly become out-moded and develop into barriers 6 to necessary reform. This is well illustrated, for example, by state constitutional restrictions upon the power to tax. How­ ever, there are also difficulties attendant upon the effort to express limitations in broad and general terms. In the first place, it is the difficulty of uncertainty which leaves the legislative body more or less without guidance as to what it may or may